Elizabeth Beers Kataria

Described as “refulgent toned” and “impressive,” soprano, Elizabeth Beers Kataria has enjoyed success in the title-role MANON LESCAUT with Mobile Opera, the Primadonna/Ariadne ARIADNE AUF NAXOS with St. Petersburg Opera, as Brünnhilde in a reduced Ring Cycle with Opera Louisiane, and as Senta DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER with Utah Festival Opera; a role that she also performed opposite Greer Grimsley in the title-role with Opera Carolina. She was delighted to return to Baton Rouge this spring to join Opera Louisiane in celebrating their 10th Anniversary Gala.

Her debut performance as Senta DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER was hailed as having been “sung with technical brilliance and breathtaking control…”; “UFOMT newcomer Elizabeth Beers Kataria is stunning as Senta. […] Her soprano voice is lustrous and exquisitely expressive in the Dutchman’s ballad that is the core of the opera’s second act. Ms. Kataria is also a gifted actress…” Of her appearance as the Primadonna/Ariadne ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, she was said to be “in lustrous voice, her big scene on the purity of death, Es gibt ein Reich, emerging in gorgeous warmth and eloquent phrasing. This was richly dramatic singing.”

Some of Elizabeth’s previous stage appearances include Woglinde DAS RHEINGOLD, concert excerpts from the final scene of SALOME, Leonore FIDELIO, Erste Dame DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, Cio-Cio San MADAMA BUTTERFLY, both Donna Elvira and Donna Anna DON GIOVANNI, Countess LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Magda de Civry LA RONDINE, and concert performances of Massenet’s rarely performed LE CID as Chimène. Elizabeth has performed the title-role in several productions of SUOR ANGELICA; of her 2009 appearance with Chelsea Opera, former producer and host of NPR’s At the Opera wrote “Kataria ought to have quite a career before her, for she negotiated the twists and turns in Angelica’s character without a hitch, … culminating in a shattering performance of the pivotal “Senza Mamma” which she traversed with an ease that belied its difficulty...” With Chautauqua Opera, Elizabeth appeared as the Foreign Woman THE CONSUL, covered both the title-role TOSCA and Leonora IL TROVATORE, and appeared in concerts with the Chautauqua Symphony. Of her appearance with the Chautauqua Symphony, she was described as having a “a clear, pleasingly columnar dramatic soprano that showed admirable evenness in testing ensembles from Fidelio and Norma. […] Beers-Kataria has the vocal goods and becoming dignity.” She has been a featured soloist in numerous other concerts and recitals, most notably as the soprano soloist in the Beethoven Missa Solemnis under the baton of the late Robert Shaw while still a student.

Elizabeth is a two-time Liederkranz Foundation Wagner Division Vocal Competition finalist and recipient of a study grant from the Wagner Society of New York. Abroad, she has appeared in concerts with Les Azuriales Opera Festival in the south of France, was awarded 1er Prix Femme in the 20ème Concours International de Chant de Marmande Lot-et-Garonne et de la Région Aquitaine (France), and participated in the final rounds of the 2011 Concorso Internazionale Musica Sacra in Rome supported by a grant from the New York State Foundation of the Arts. Elizabeth is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, has participated in two International Vocal Arts Institute programs abroad, been a Resident Artist with the Pine Mountain Music Festival, and an Apprentice with Chautauqua Opera.